The Union of Skills focuses on strengthening education, upskilling, internal labour mobility and attracting foreign talent.
The EU cannot remain competitive in the long term without ensuring its workforce has the right skills and talent, especially considering the impact of an ageing working-age population, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for social rights and skills Roxana Mînzatu said on Wednesday during the presentation of the Union of Skills.
“We talk a lot about competitiveness and investment in technology, innovation and decarbonisation, but to make full use of these resources we need skilled, trained and talented people at various levels,” Mînzatu told a small group of journalists, including Euronews, ahead of the presentation.
Currently, around 63% of EU companies trying to hire information and communication technology (ICT) specialists struggle to fill vacancies, and demand for these roles is expected to more than double by 2030.
The Union of Skills aims to address existing labour shortages, as businesses struggle to match workforce skills with job market demands, and individuals risk falling behind as the labour market evolves.
Under this new four-pillar plan, the EU will aim to boost education and training in areas such as maths, science, literacy, digital skills and citizenship – and offer various schemes to help people learn new skills and adapt to the green and digital transitions.
The Union of Skills will also aim to launch initiatives to both develop, retain and attract talent from within the EU and beyond.
“We also need to look at methods to attract talent from outside the EU,” Mînzatu added, clarifying that legal migration will be only part of the solution to labour and skills shortages.
Women, older workers, and low-skilled individuals represent the largest untapped potential in the EU workforce, which employed 201.33 million people in 2024.
The EU is working to remove internal barriers and provide lifelong learning opportunities to help adults regularly upskill and reskill. However, with a shrinking workforce, the Commission stressed that recruitment from abroad will also be necessary.
To support this effort, the Commission will launch a €22.5 million “Choose Europe” Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions pilot project to attract top researchers globally.
By April, the Commission is also expected to establish an EU Talent Pool to facilitate recruitment from outside the EU across all skill levels, particularly in occupations experiencing severe shortages.
“Migration is already happening, and not through the EU Talent Pool or a checked system,” the Romanian EVP said.
“It would be very wise and constructive to create a system ensuring that people recruited for specific jobs receive good working conditions and social security benefits,” she added.
Later this year, a visa strategy will be introduced to further support the arrival of top students, trained workers, and researchers.
Overall, the EU is investing over €150 billion from its current long-term budget (2021-27) to help individuals, businesses, and educational institutions develop the skills needed for a competitive European economy.
For the next long-term budget (2028-34), the Commission wants to ensure the best value for money, so after testing all the proposed initiatives and pilots, it will decide which could be scaled up and to what extent.
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